5 tips on web design for beginners

As a beginner, designing your own website can be tricky. Here are a few tips from web design professionals to help you get the best out of your project.

Innovate, don’t copy. If you see something you really like on another site, use it as inspiration rather than as a template. Enhance their ideas to fit your product, style and personality – you want your website to be a reflection of your values, not someone else’s.

Keep it simple. Simple is always better when it comes to website design. This is because its primary function is to allow the user to access your information easily and quickly. Combining a wide range of features, colours and gadgets will just make your site difficult to read, slow and overwhelming for the user. Streamline your website interface so that users can focus on what they really need from you.

Involve your users. A really great idea is to have a dedicated section of your site that is purely for user feedback. This will be especially useful when you first launch your site, as your users can tell you what features they like, what they find to be confusing or what they would like you to add onto your site. This also helps to build up your customer relationships as they see you respond to their concerns and comments.

Have a search button. This feature is commonly overlooked, but it is an essential part of your web design. By placing a search box at the top of every page, you are allowing your users to look for particular products or services that may not be as easy to find through your menus.

Test on all web browsers. You should thoroughly test your website at every stage of your website design. Every web design project will have bugs, and this is the best way to remove them before your project goes live. Broken links and videos give your users an unprofessional impression of your site and products, so be sure to check and recheck them all. Even after all this, you may still have a few bugs, and your customer feedback can help you keep on top of these.